{"id":390,"date":"2019-02-17T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graceamazingly.wordpress.com\/?p=390"},"modified":"2019-02-17T00:05:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-17T00:05:00","slug":"patience-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/2019\/02\/17\/patience-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Patience, now!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What do I know about patience? Being patience is really difficult – one step forward, two steps back!!<\/em> 2 Cor 12:9 says God\u2019s power is made perfect in our weakness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patience is an evidence (fruit) of growing in Christ. (Gal 5:22) When waiting for something, doubt might set in, or we get distracted by ill advice. (Job\u2019s friends) The following might be useful.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do I want? The \u201ccertainty\u201d of patience.<\/em> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The more we wait, the more we say to ourselves this is really, really what I want. We might also ask others what they think. Grace and humility govern our thoughts and ambitions. Something that is right and proper (and spiritual) might not be something God wants us to have, he might have something better for us to achieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our certainty is God\u2019s presence: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cnever will I leave you; never will I forsake you\u201d (Heb 13:5). <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Reading this in its immediate context confronts us about where things can go wrong if we ignore God\u2019s presence: marriage (relationship) and money (ambition).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When do I want it? Now!  The \u201cnow\u201d of patience.<\/em> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Becoming more and more impatient: at train station or airport arrival, without information about what\u2019s going on, I quickly become impatient: when will my friends appear!? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our housegroup recently studied Colossians. The \u201chow to live as Christians\u201d (chapter 3) preceded \u201cdevote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful\u201d (Col 4:2), and the purpose for that was to \u201cproclaim the mystery of Christ\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The text didn\u2019t say that Paul was working hard and waiting patiently to get out of prison. To make the best of \u201cnow\u201d, he instead did \u201c\u2026prayer\u2026 watchful\u2026 thankful\u201d. Even in prison \u2013because of it \u2013 he wanted good relationship with others including being graceful, even to criminals and prison officers. <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, Paul is Paul! I simply can\u2019t deal with the waiting!! Remember, God never leaves you, and desires you to grow.<\/strong> Paul also says \u201cjoin me in suffering\u201d (2 Tim 2:3), he can\u2019t cope neither! More to the point, we are soldiers for Christ to ensure the truth of salvation is related to everyone; we are also like athletes who spend all their time getting fit, and developing strategies to win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After reaching our goal, the toils and tribulations we endure earlier become irrelevant compared to the goal we achieve. We might look back and realise how much we have also gained from the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do I want it? The \u201curgency\u201d of patience.<\/em> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Paul, despite having all the qualifications for righteousness, says true righteousness is about knowing God more and more (Phil 3:10). We started with intimate relationship with God according to Genesis. We then got distracted, blamed the fruit, the spouse, the snake, the sibling, the slave masters, silent mountains and deserts, and on and on. Can\u2019t wait? Taking an inconsiderate shortcut might hurt others and God will not be pleased. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The urgency of patience<\/strong> lies in realising the real value of what God has for us. The long journeys we take when we go on holidays test our patience, but it\u2019s the best time to chat! Having observed the urgency in sorting out the church\u2019s top floor flat, a key issue concerned the \u201cbig picture\u201d of what we were doing as a community of believers being relevant to our neighbours, friends and environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jesus, the urgency of the night lies in choosing to obey his father and remaining unblemished, no cutting corners for himself and his mates, so he could complete the atonement for us. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As athletes wearing \u201cJesus\u201d as our allegiance, the most urgent thing lies in being absolutely focused in reaching our goal: but when we get to the end, we can look back and say we have \u201cfought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith\u201d. (2 Tim 4:7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do I want it? The \u201csurprise\u201d of patience.<\/em> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What did Josiah do when he found the Book of the Law (2 Kings 22)? His country\u2019s original goal was to sort out the temple. On reading the Book, Josiah \u201cturned to the Lord\u201d. The surprise of the nation\u2019s patience to reach their goal was finding God himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we encountered a major problem travelling back from\nAustralia a few years ago, we didn\u2019t know how much more we had to endure. One\nof the newest members of the church we attended then came swiftly to help us. That\npleasantly surprised us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the \u201ccertainty\u201d of patience for you? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you deal with the \u201cnow\u201d of patience before reaching your goal? Do you feel the \u201curgency\u201c of patience to relate the gospel to others while waiting? What have been \u201csurprises\u201d of your patience waiting for something in the past? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job probably didn\u2019t realise there was ever an end to his suffering. God did not leave him but at the end restored his household, and friendships with his advisors. The scripture surprised us further with how Job treated all his children with inheritance. (Job 42) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not knowing when the end comes is probably the greatest test of patience. Stay faithful with God, pray about the situation, relate your faith with others, and God will surprise you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What do I know about patience? Being patience is really difficult – one step forward, two steps back!! 2 Cor 12:9 says God\u2019s power is made perfect in our weakness. Patience is an evidence (fruit) of growing in Christ. (Gal 5:22) When waiting for something, doubt might set in, or we get distracted by ill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-knowing-god-outcome","7":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elts.org.uk\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}